Mercilessly chewing up a Santa hat may seem like run-of-the-mill puppy behavior, but some of King’s fans hinted that this could be only the first of little Molly’s destructive acts. Some even drew comparisons to Cujo, the rabid St. Bernard in his 1981 horror novel of the same name.

Since then, King has offered a wealth of photographic evidence that Molly has been living up to her nickname.

It’s difficult to comprehend how King should share his home with such a creature. Perhaps he needed villainous inspiration for a future novel, but it could simply be that “The Thing of Evil” is just so darn cute.